Field
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to the field of wireless network management. In particular, various embodiments relate to synchronizing configurations between access point controllers (ACs) over N+1 network.
Description of the Related Art
Wireless access points (APs) are deployed to cover public areas, offices and families so that Wi-Fi-enabled devices may be connected to a private network or the Internet through a wireless network. When a large number of APs are deployed in a WiFi network, the wireless APs are connected to wireless access point controllers (ACs) and are managed by the ACs. In order to ensure availability of the WiFi network, a group (N) of ACs may have one (+1) backup AC to form N+1 network redundancy. In normal state, the group of ACs take active roles as in-service N-master ACs while the backup AC takes a passive role as standby One-slave AC. In failover state, the slave AC becomes active to take over the role of a failed master AC. In fallback state, the failed master AC becomes active again and comes back in-service and the slave AC takes the passive role and in standby state again. In order to perform the N+1 redundancy, master or slave controllers need to copy the latest running configurations of the peer AC every synchronization interval regardless of configuration change. Master or slave controllers also need to synchronize the latest running configuration with the peer controller in any configuration change between synchronization intervals. However, the synchronization of running configurations between peer ACs may fail due to the network or running environments of the N+1 network. In one example, the running configuration package is corrupted while transmitting from one peer to another due to any network interruption. In another example, when the slave AC tries to retrieve the running configuration package from a master AC, the master controller fails to make the package due to file system usage failure or abnormal compression. The slave controller may fail to copy the latest running configuration package from the master controller.
Therefore, there is a need for enhancing the synchronization of running configurations between peers of N+1 AC network.